Our Day Part 14

The series began at the time specified, the signs came in the order given in Christ's prophecy. The record of history bears witness that the prophecy was fulfilled.

It may be that on a yet more awful and universal scale these phenomena will be seen again in that last shaking of the powers of heaven which is to attend the rolling back of the heavens as a scroll, the immediate prelude to Christ's glorious appearing. But Christ's prophecy, at this point, was not giving a description of events at the very end of the world, but signs by which it might be known when the end was drawing near.

As the signs should be recognized, the Saviour intended that those who loved His appearing should be quickened with hope, and inspired to hasten to the world with the gospel message preparing the way of the Lord. The Lord's word for His children was,

"When these things begin to come to pa.s.s, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21:28.

Long ago these signs began to come to pa.s.s. Now may the Lord's believing children well look up and rejoice, knowing that the day of eternal redemption is indeed nigh at hand.

He Will Come for His Own

In the glad time of the harvest, In the grand millennial year, When the King shall take His scepter, And to judge the world appear, Earth and sea shall yield their treasure, All shall stand before the throne; Just awards will then be given, When the King shall claim His own.

O the rapture of His people!

Long they've dwelt on earth's low sod, With their hearts e'er turning homeward, Rich in faith and love to G.o.d.

They will share the life immortal, They will know as they are known, They will pa.s.s the pearly portal, When the King shall claim His own.

Long they've toiled within the harvest, Sown the precious seed with tears; Soon they'll drop their heavy burdens In the glad millennial years; They will share the bliss of heaven, Nevermore to sigh or moan; Starry crowns will then be given, When the King shall claim His own.

We shall greet the loved and loving, Who have left us lonely here; Every heartache will be banished When the Saviour shall appear; Never grieved with sin or sorrow, Never weary or alone; O, we long for that glad morrow When the King shall claim His own!

--_L.D. Santee._

[Ill.u.s.tration: SATAN OFFERS GOLD, AND THE WORLD STAMPEDES TO ITS DESTRUCTION

"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." James 5:1.]

FOOTNOTES:

[D] The display was most brilliant, apparently, in Western Asia. The veteran missionary, Dr. H.H. Jessup, of the Presbyterian Missionary College, of Beirut, describes the scene in his "Fifty-Three Years in Syria:" "On the morning of the fourteenth [November], at three o'clock, I was roused from a deep sleep by the voice of one of the young men calling, 'The stars are all coming down.' ... The meteors poured down like a rain of fire. Many of them were large and varicolored, and left behind them a long train of fire. One immense green meteor came down over Lebanon, seeming as large as the moon, and exploded with a large noise, leaving a green pillar of light in its train. It was vain to attempt to count them, and the display continued until dawn, when their light was obscured by the king of day.... The Mohammedans gave the call to prayer from the minarets, and the common people were in terror."--_Volume I, pp. 316, 317._

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MISER

"Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." James 5:3.]

THE MEANING OF PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS

"THERE SHALL BE SIGNS ... UPON THE EARTH"

From the specific signs in the heavens, which were to herald the coming of the latter days and awaken the church to look for its coming Lord, our Saviour's prophecy pa.s.sed on to designate certain general conditions in the world which were to continue until the great day of G.o.d comes:

"There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:25-27.

Among the developments here foretold, and which contribute to the "distress of nations, with perplexity," we may list the following:

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ARMING OF THE NATIONS

"Prepare war,... beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears." Joel 3: 9, 10.]

1. Political Unrest--the Arming of the Nations

Following on closely with the signs in the heavens, there appears also the awakening to national aspirations and rivalries in Europe, out of which has grown the arming of the nations. The beginning of the modern race of armaments may be dated from those stirring and eventful years of 1830 to 1848. We have seen the resources of the soil and the inventive genius of man devoted to preparations for war on a scale never before thought of. The prophet Joel foretold these conditions in the last days:

"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles ["the nations," R.V.]: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.... Let the heathen be wakened.... Mult.i.tudes, mult.i.tudes in the valley of decision [or "cutting off"]: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Joel 3: 9-14.

[Ill.u.s.tration: READY FOR THE CONFLICT

"For the day of the Lord is near." Joel 3: 14.

PHOTO FROM UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y.]

Another prophecy forewarns of the "peace and safety" cry that is to be heard as the end draws near. We are told that many people in the last days will be saying that swords are to be beaten into plowshares, and that the nations will cease from war (Isa. 2:3, 4); but the actual conditions are repeatedly described in prophecy as warlike and perilous.

Thus the revelator saw the closing days:

"The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldst give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth." Rev. 11: 18.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT

"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Matt.

24: 42.]

What we see then among the nations proclaims the approaching end.

2. Signs in the Social World

A New Testament prophecy of the latter days says:

"In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of G.o.d." 2 Tim. 3: 1-4.

The "perilous times" have come, when, as never before, the world is pleasure mad.

"Unrestrained pa.s.sion for pleasure," said M. Comte, editor of the French _Relevement Social_, writing just before the European war, is bringing a terrible train of evils into modern society. Along with it he put "the hunt for money without regard for means," adding:

"This is the theme which manufacturers, business men, men in the public administration, continually harp on with ever the same conviction and ever the same wealth of proof.

"The note is ever the same, and the conclusion identical: _Nous sommes perdus!_ [We are lost!]"--_Quoted in Record of Christian Work, July, 1914._

Many agencies for social and temperance reform are rendering the greatest human service; but for lost humanity the only hope is Christ, the divine Saviour. With an urgency born of the last call, His gospel is sounding to a world on the verge of eternity. Yet with divine love longing to save, the world sweeps on, less and less mindful of eternal interests. Christ's prophecy foretold it as it is:

"As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.